Exemplary embodiments herein relate to a seat assembly for a vehicle, and more particularly, to a striker mechanism configured to provide more clearance for a seatbelt assembly of a vehicle as a seatback is moved between an upright, seated position and a stowed, forward position where the seatback generally rests on a seat base.
Many sedans, coupes, CUVs, and SUVs have rear-folding seats with high-latch strikers. When the striker is located on the seatback and the latch on the vehicle body, the horizontal striker frequently can catch the seatbelt webbing and drag the seatbelt webbing toward the latch where the webbing could be damaged. This problem often occurs where the available width of the vehicle prevents D-ring and lower outer seatbelt anchorage from being located far enough outboard with respect to the seat to route the seatbelt webbing outward of the striker/latch area. Vehicle seats employing these horizontal strikers in vehicles not having the adequate width can require the operator to manually pull the seatbelt webbing out of the way of the striker/latch area to prevent damage to the seatbelt webbing. Some other redirection device or operation to pull the seatbelt webbing out of the way of the striker/latch area, such as an elastic band or a presenter arm, could alleviate this problem but adds cost to the vehicle. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a generally vertically extending striker mechanism for a vehicle seatback directed to overcome the aforementioned problems associated with the horizontal strikers.